The group additionally led chants of “shame!” and one protester took problem with the truth that Ms. Nielsen was having fun with dinner at a Mexican restaurant, “of all places.”

Ms. Nielsen, who’s accountable for finishing up President Trump’s efforts to cut back immigration, didn’t seem to answer the protesters through the virtually 11-minute video.

Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, a liberal group that works for social and financial justice, claimed duty for the protest. A spokesman for the group mentioned diner had tipped off the group that Ms. Nielsen was consuming at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, and that about 15 activists arrived at the restaurant round eight p.m. He mentioned he believed that Ms. Nielsen left after the protesters did.

The group interrupted what a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security described as a “work dinner.”

“While having a work dinner tonight, the secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border,” a division spokesman, Tyler Q. Houlton, posted on Twitter. He shifted the main focus to Congress, asking people who find themselves involved about immigration to succeed in out to their representatives.

Ms. Nielsen additionally took to Twitter on Tuesday evening, retweeting a message from President Trump saying that she did a “fabulous job” at a information convention on Monday. She additionally posted that she would “work tirelessly until our broken immigration system is fixed, our borders are secure and families can stay together.”

Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America launched an announcement from a member of its steering committee, Margaret McLaughlin: “We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace, while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border.”

She added that whereas Ms. Nielsen’s dinner “may have been ruined, it is nothing compared to the horrors she has inflicted on innocent families.”

A employee who answered the cellphone at MXDC Cocina Mexicana late Tuesday referred inquiries to a public relations consultant, who didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.